If you’re not familiar with soap nuts, you might be asking yourself what is a soap nut? Don’t let the name fool you, there’s no soap in soap nuts, and they are totally cloth diaper safe. Soap nuts (also called soap berries) are not nuts at all, but are dried fruit shells (related to the lychee) that come from the Sapindus mukorossi tree. They contain saponin, a natural surfactant that removes dirt from your laundry, are gentle on laundry and skin, and are septic and grey water safe.

So, why Eco Nuts? Eco Nuts are harvested in the Himalayas, and because they aren’t tasty to critters, no pesticides or fertilizers are used. They are dried indoors in a controlled environment (rather than outdoors on a rooftop like some are) so you won’t be getting any extra little surprises from rats, birds and other creatures when you buy Eco Nuts! They’re certified USDA organic by EcoCert, are hand-packaged in the USA, and their proprietary sorting process ensures they are free from contaminants.

To use soap nuts , you place 4 or 5 in a muslin bag and toss them in your machine. You can use them up to 10 times, when they disintegrate and get mushy. The liquid concentrate is even easier! Eco Nuts Soapberry Based Liquid Detergent contains Soapberry extract, vegetable glycerin and Potassium Sorbate (a food grade preservative.) It does not (nor do Eco Nuts) contain dyes, fragrances, fillers, enzymes or optical brighteners, and it is 100% SLS and phosphate-free. This means Eco Nuts are safe for cloth diapers!

The concentrate is packaged in a lightweight, recyclable aluminum bottle. I love the look of the bottle and label, and if I had a decorative shelf in my laundry room, I’d leave the bottle out! The concentrate smells like soap nuts, which is a slightly pungent, maybe vinegar-y smell.

The 4 ounce bottle does 24 loads in a regular machine, or 48 in an HE machine. You need just 1 capful (1 tsp) for a load, or half that for an HE machine. I was trying to take a picture while I poured, and I poured a little much. The bottle does say that heavily soiled loads might need a bit more, so I went ahead and used a full capful for a load of cloth diapers (if they aren’t heavily soiled, I don’t know what is!)

Yep, a little goes a long way! You won’t see suds or foam like detergent. Before I did my diapers, I did soak them, then do a few extra rinses, so I could be sure there was no detergent residue.

I washed them using my regular wash routine, and when they were finished, they smelled like…nothing. Exactly what you want. If you’re looking for a cloth diaper safe, natural detergent, I highly recommend checking Eco Nuts out! The liquid detergent comes in a 4 ounce 24/48 bottle for $9.49, as well as a 10 oz 60/120 bottle for $18.99. Get a 10-load soap nuts trial pack for just $4.00, 100 loads for $12.00, or 360 loads for $34.95. They have even more goodies, not just soap nuts, so check it out!

Giveaway: Eco Nuts is offering a reader their own 4 oz (24/48 load) bottle of detergent! (ARV $9.49) Entries go in the Rafflecopter form below!You may view Rafflecopter’s Privacy Policy.

My friend Tonya is switching her household to all “green,” one week at a time. She’s writing in on Cafemom’sThe Stir. Here is the post that prompted the one I’m writing right now! At the bottom of the post you can read the posts from prior weeks as well.

Anyhoo, when she bought her Naturolisoap nuts, she noticed that they were cloth diaper safe and offered to send me some. I’ve been using them on my cloth diapers for over three weeks now and I am so grateful to her for sending them to me!

Laundry use is easy. Put 1/2 ounce (about 5-6 pieces) in the muslin bag. you can use this “batch” for about 5 loads. If you grab it out of the washer before the rinse cycle, you can extend the life a bit. It doesn’t hurt them to be thrown in the dryer (which I have done!)

Close the bag.

Then toss it in with your laundry.

The laundry directions tell you how to make a liquid, and how to wash in cold water. They include a handy pamphlet as well.

They didn’t suds much, but they worked!

The soap nuts smelled vinegar-y to me, and somewhat like a pungent berry. Their surface felt a bit slippery. If I agitated them in the sink they would make some suds.

Mine never did turn gray (the directions say they will be gray & mushy when they are ready to be pitched), but when they were “used up” I noticed that they no longer smelled, weren’t slippery and looked mushy.

I used the soap nuts on all of my laundry for three weeks, and I was amazed. My laundry came out smelling like nothing. Just clean. Even my stinky kitchen dish cloths, which is amazing.

Before I used the last few, I wanted to order some for myself! Here are the costs I figured (based on my shipping zip code).

They also have value bags of broken pieces for as little as 4.5 cents per load. The more you buy, the more cost effective it is. It would be a great idea to go in on an order with a friend (or friends) and split it. Honestly, I don’t care how much they cost. They work, and it will still be cheaper than disposable diapering!

I’m a bargain hunter, so the detergent we use for our clothing costs 0-2 cents or so per load. I really couldn’t justify the expense right now, so I settled on the 32 ounce bag for the diapers only. I tried to balance value per load with the total cost. Plus I always seem to get stuck with stuff that stops working for me as soon as I stock up!

If you want to make sure the soap nuts go as far as they should, (and you have a kitchen scale) you might want to weigh them as you use them, to be sure you’re not using too many.

I ordered the 32 oz bag. With the weight of the bag itself, it was just over 2 lbs.

Here, four weighed 1/2 ounce.

Here, it took six.

It doesn’t really matter, but just know that you could potentially be using 50% more than you need if you just grab 6 every time. We have an HE washer and soft water, so I may just use 4 every time.

My order came with 2 muslin bags.

Here you can see just how huge the bag is! Yes I know, paper towels, ick. We rarely use them and I want unpapertowels!

If you’ve tried other detergents and they haven’t worked, or if you’re just looking for something new and truly all natural, give soap nuts a try!

Edit August 2010: I have the worst luck with “soap.” These stopped working for me for some unknown reason. My diapers started coming out smelling like they weren’t washed, and the soap nuts were getting broken in the machine. The pieces were working their way out of the bag even though I cinched it tightly, and would get stuck on diapers/inserts, and left a couple of spots on them as well.

Maria wants to live in a world where cloth diapers are the norm and moms can make parenting choices without judgement. When she’s not chasing her 11, 7 and 4 year old kids around, you might find her checking out the latest gadgets, organizing something (again) or exercising in the fresh air. Read More »